There is a strong chance you’re heard the term fat-shaming before. In simple words, it essentially involves making someone overweight feel like a complete piece of shit because of their size, invalidating their own emotions and the fact that they’re a human being in the process. Socially, we have been conditioned to perceive overweight people as lesser, or inferior to thinner, more in-shape people, and for anyone who is overweight, fat shaming is a terrible thing to experience. Sadly, I’ve seen my sister encounter this mentality far too often.
My sister recently told me about a clip from the population television show called Dragon’s Den, with this particular clip coming from the U.K. version of the show. A husband and wife go onto the show to pitch their business ideas to the dragons – a company titled “Fat Lad at the Back” that creates athletic wear, mainly for cycling, for overweight people.
The idea on a surface level sounds great. Athleisure wear and athletic clothing don’t exactly have a market for larger people, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it seeing as a lot of folks get into exercise as a means to lose weight. The issue with this couple’s pitch, however, is that their appearance on the show basically consisted of them marketing their products based solely on the concept of fat-shaming, and the dragons weren’t having any of it.
It’s kind of like when you are at a public gym, and you see a larger person on the treadmill. Perhaps you’re not a piece of shit human and think to yourself ‘good for them,’ or perhaps you are a piece of shit human and make a rude comment to them or to someone else at the gym, making fun of their weight as they’re in the process of trying to better themselves. The latter option provided here is a prime example of fat-shaming, and it’s getting pretty fucking old, if you ask me.
If you have nothing nice to say, best keep that trap shut.
ontheedgeofeverything 
